Book of Yum

Eating gluten-free is more difficult on the road, and most difficult of all when traveling internationally. This is why when the DH and I planned a trip to Israel this September, I insisted that we stay somewhere with a kitchen at least part of the time. We chose the Atlas hotel affiliated Tal hotel in Tel Aviv, located within walking distance of the Tel Aviv Port. I learned later that there was a gluten-free store at Hangar 13 of the Port (Aditta’s), so it ended up being an especially good choice. One thing I was not anticipating was the difficulty of navigating labels in Hebrew. I had heard that everything would be in Hebrew and English, so I thought labels would be easy- it turned out that the only thing typically written in English MIGHT be the title of the food item. Labels were NOT in English unless the product was imported in or designed for export. This made all kinds of things complicated. Also, our kitchen was very, very small, which was not a problem, but I found that the hot plate liked to blow the kitchen fuse, which was a hassle until they switched out the hot plate. It was handy that Israeli buffet breakfasts are reasonably gluten-free friendly. They serve (gluten) bread… but they also serve salad, which may consist of arugula-like greens and apples or plums if you are very lucky, several kinds of dairy including soft cheeses like Tsfatit, fresh cheese, a cottage cheese and my favorite, Labane, a smooth, creamy yogurt cheese. They will tend to have labane plain or (my favorite) with chives or possibly dill.

A pescatarian breakfast of salad with tahini as an un-dressing, cottage cheese, labane, tsfatit cheese, and pickled fish.
The nicer hotel buffets will also have an espresso machine, although the machine will be at rest on Saturday morning. I ate breakfast at the hotel every morning, which was a relief to not have to worry about feeding myself or Toddler Yum. Having a kitchen for lunch was wonderful, though. I was able to fry eggs, make gluten-free grilled cheese sandwich, and gluten-free pancakes, when eating out was too complicated. My favorite meal was thanks to some gluten-free pasta I bought at Adittas (also available through an online gluten-free store that delivers or other health food stores. I had bought a can of chickpeas, and had some milk and butter. It was a simple dish, but satisfying, and Toddler Yum gobbled it up like candy. The best thing is that you could make this dish almost anywhere in the world in a dorm kitchen, a weekly mansion hotel, or even at home, with simple, easily available ingredients. I hope you enjoy it.

Chickpea Pasta Recipe for limited kitchens Main Course  Corn  Dairy  American

Ingredients 1 tbsp. butter or olive oil 1/2 small onion, diced 1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 2 thin slices or 1 large grated handful tasty cheese (optional) 1 tbsp. gluten-free flour or baking mix (I used Pamela’s pancake mix because it is what I had) milk (regular or plain soy or almond milk) fresh herbs, diced (optional) minced fresh veggies (red, yellow, green pepper or carrot) nuts (such as pine nuts etc. if available), lightly toasted 1/2 package of gluten-free corn spaghetti (or your favorite variety) Directions Heat 1 tbsp butter or olive oil in a small skillet. Add your diced onion and saute until translucent. Toss in your gluten-free flour and mix to combine with the softened onions. Add 1/2 cup milk, stir until combined and heat on medium-low, whisking (with fork or fancy whisk) as needed. When sauce begins to thicken slightly add more milk, whisk together, heat more and let thicken. Add more milk until you have enough sauce for your taste. Then add your chickpeas and simmer until the chickpeas have been flavored by the sauce. Add your (optional) cheese and let it start to melt. Turn off the heat and let it continue to melt. Cook your favorite pasta until al dente and drain. Stir your chickpea sauce. Top your pasta with your chickpea pasta sauce and add diced fresh herbs (if you have them), salt, pepper, and sprinkle minced fresh veggies and nuts on top. Enjoy! Notes Perfect for limited kitchens with at least one stove burner and a dorm refrigerator. This recipe only uses commonly available ingredients, except for the gluten-free flour and gluten-free pasta. When I know I will have at least one burner at a destination, I pack pasta and flour in my suitcase.

Rating:  9 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, a work-in-progress. Please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1567 Added:  September 18, 2011 Last Modified:  September 18, 2011

When Wendy of Celiacs in the House approached me about developing a recipe for Lindsay olives I was intrigued. Baby Yum and I both love olives and I thought it sounded fun. I looked through the extensive recipes on their site and found one for Roasted Vegetable Couscous. I was initially looking for a recipe using quinoa because, as Karina the Gluten-free Goddess demonstrates in this recipe olives complement quinoa beautifully. Since I didn’t find any in the Lindsay recipe index, I thought it was high time to make one!

The Lindsay people kindly sent me two jars of their kalamata olives for my recipe development and a jar of their mellow onion-stuffed Green Queen Olives and pimiento-stuffed Green Queen olives just for fun. I haven’t tried the pimiento ones yet, but the onion-stuffed ones are buttery and tasty.

Then it was time to work on my recipe! The first thing I changed was swapping quinoa for couscous. I cooked the quinoa in a rice cooker rather than on the stove to approximate the speed and ease of cooking couscous. Quinoa takes a little longer to cook than couscous, but it is gluten-free and so easy to make in the rice cooker (or even on the stove) it ends up being very little effort to make up a batch. In this case, I added green onions and used no-chicken vegetarian broth and water as the liquid in the rice cooker and let it cook. While the rice cooker was steaming, I put my sweet potato cubes and onions in a roasting dish, drizzled them with olive oil and seasoned them with smoked paprika, cumin, marjoram and rosemary in addition to salt and pepper. I used the same seasoning on my pattypan squash, which I used instead of the zucchini in the original recipe, but I grilled them instead of roasting because I like the flavor and attractive grill marks that this adds. Also, since squash cooks a lot faster than sweet potatoes, this allows you to keep the sweet potatoes in the oven for longer so that it achieves a nice, browned, slightly caramelized texture.

Chopping up the olives and parsley was a simple job. The only complication was Baby Yum, who kept stealing (and eating) my olives. That’s my girl! Her Daddy doesn’t like olives as much as I do, but I’ve been giving Baby Yum olive nibbles (especially of Kalamata olives, my favorite) since she was a wee one. I only had raw cashews, so I dry-toasted them on medium heat on the stove and lightly salted them for additional flavor. Then it was time to mix up the salad, drizzle with orange juice, and sprinkle with the toasted cashews. Baby Yum was a complication again, because she kept trying to steal the quinoa, or “rice” as she calls it. My girl does love quinoa.

We enjoyed this quinoa salad recipe with grilled asparagus and (non-veggie) kabobs out on our patio at twilight with the light of a little fire. My husband’s parents are visiting from Colorado and we had a great little meal. Afterwards we walked to a neighborhood park to watch fireworks.

This was a fun experiment and just goes to show how easy it is to adapt any recipe to be gluten-free and even vegetarian. This recipe is naturally vegan and a fresh and healthy addition to any picnic. Even Toddler Yum enjoyed this recipe, although she picked out her favorite parts… “More nuts, Mommy!” “More rice (quinoa), Mommy!” she begged. Due to her deep rooted suspicion of orange foods she wouldn’t eat the roasted sweet potato, but that just meant more for me. The DH enjoyed the recipe as well, and commented that while sometimes he doesn’t like kalamata olives because they are bitter, these particular olives were mild and not overpowering. And for me, well, I never met a kalamata I didn’t like. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go nibble on some onion-stuffed Queen olives.

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Here are the recipes my gluten-free friends have developed using Lindsay Olives:
Grilled olive Relish Recipe
Champagne Nectarine Tapenade Recipe
More coming soon!

Shared with Gluten-free Wednesday and Real Food Weekly.

*Lindsay Olives compensated me for creating this recipe, so consider this the first step on my career as a gluten-free recipe developer. Woo hoo! I promise to only do yummy recipes, whether it is just for my family or for companies with tasty products.

Gluten-free Lindsay Olive Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Recipe Main Course  Alternative Grains  Vegetables  Italian

Ingredients 1 large yam or sweet potato (8 oz.) peeled and diced (1/2-inch) 1 medium red onion, peeled and diced (1/2-inch) 2 pattypan squash sliced 1/2-inch thick 2 tablespoons olive oil smoked paprika or chipotle pepper toasted cumin powder dried marjoram dried rosemary leaves 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 cup no-chicken or other vegetarian broth 1 1/2 cup water 1 1/2 cup or 12 oz. quinoa 1/2 cup chopped green onions 1 cup halved Lindsay® Greek Kalamata Pitted Olives 3/4 cup cooked or canned garbanzo beans 1/3 cup coarsely chopped cashews, pan toasted and salted 1/4 cup chopped parsley or other herb (fresh dill, basil, arugula etc) 1/4 cup orange juice Smoked paprika or Chipotle pepper to taste Directions Heat oven to 450°F. Place your yam, and onion on a 15×10-inch jelly roll pan or baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tblsp. of olive oil and season with your spices, herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Bake at least 30 minutes until vegetables are lightly browned and tender, stirring once. I chose to grill my pattypan squash, drizzling the slices with 1 tbsp. of olive oil and the paprika, cumin, marjoram, rosemary, salt and pepper. You could also roast it in the oven until browned on both sides, turning once. Meanwhile, rinse your quinoa and put it in your rice cooker. Add your broth, water, and green onions to the rice cooker and start it.* When quinoa is done, fluff it with a fork. Add olives, garbanzo beans, parsley or other herbs, and orange juice. Add additional paprika or chipotle pepper if desired. Top quinoa with roasted vegetables or stir them into the quinoa. Sprinkle your cashews on top. Enjoy! Notes *Otherwise, combine ingredients in a pot with a lid, bring it to a boil on medium-high, lowering the heat to low and then add the lid. Let simmer for 15 minutes and turn off heat, Fluff and reserve.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Adapted from a gluten and non-vegetarian recipe from the Lindsay recipe site for roasted vegetable couscous. My original creation for Lindsay’s, please do not replicate without my permission Recipe ID:  1560 Added:  July 4, 2011 Last Modified:  July 4, 2011